insert title here
by Captain Boe- at your service
Summary: A Percy Jackson and the Olympians/Maximum Ride crossover. We never hear what happens to Thalia after the whole "Titan King" thing. With the gods distracted with trying to fight Kronos, Thalia and the Flock are the only ones left who can save humanity....
1. Chapter 1

**Hey peoples. Okay, here's my story: I wrote this story and originally called it **_**Maximum Ride #5: MY version**_**. But it kind of sucked, and I didn't know how to continue, so I stopped it. These are pretty much the same chapters, starting with chapter 4 from the previous story. But they're a lot better and I'm hoping that since this story will be more about Lightning Thief, it'll attract more readers and more reviews and so I'll get better. So, please read and review!**

**Disclaimer: I've always wanted to do one of these that was funny, but I don't want to copy anyone else, and I can't think of anything right now, so here it is: I do not own Maximum Ride or Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The plot is MINE! **

**Max's POV:**

We flew north, away from the School as fast as possible. The cold, desert night breeze stirred my feathers softly. The moon glowed like a giant orb in the sky. We passed over the desert and mountains started springing up from below.

Okay, getting poetic here.

Finally we seemed far enough away, and I dared to swirl down to the tree-covered Sierras, landing in a tree. All our stuff had been taken away. We had nothing but the clothes on our backs and whatever we had happened to have in our pockets. No food, no water, nothing to light a fire with. At least the snow had melted by now.

"I'll take first watch." My voice shattered the silence.

"I can if you want."

I paused. I _was _tired…. "No, you took the last one."

I scurried up a tree and sat down on a branch, watching as Fang chose his own and lay down across it. Eventually, his breathing slowed and he melted into the darkness, leaving me to sink into my misery at last.

They had been taken away. It was my fault.

I remembered what Angel had looked like when we had gotten her back from the school before. Half of her face had been a giant bruise, and she had had a hard time flying again for a while. Could we get them all back before that happened to them all? And what about Akila? She was just a normal dog! Would they turn her into something else?

We had to hurry. There wasn't time to stop and rest! I actually jumped down from my tree before I realized that we had just stopped. _No, Max, calm down. Calm down. You need to rest._

I closed my eyes and sat down on the ground. Opening them again, I concentrated on making sure there wasn't anyone about to ambush us, doing regular three-sixty scans. Just, you know, _being_ the night.

Eventually I glanced down at my watch. Time for Fang's turn.

**# **

I woke up to an early sunrise, not feeling any more rested than when Fang had taken over the watch. But I stood and stretched.

"Morning," I said to Fang.

He nodded back.

"Let's try to find a town, get some chow."

"Okay."

I took off running through the trees and took off, pushing myself through the air, Fang behind me. After a little while I spotted a town below. I angled myself towards a dumpster behind a restaurant.

When we landed, I hoisted up the lid and we pawed through the mess. I was too hungry to recoil at the smell. Finally, we found some cold pizza protected by a box. We wolfed it down, then, after shoving some more edible food in our pockets, launched ourselves back into the air.

"We've got a long day ahead of us," I said. We could do it. Fang and I were the strongest of the Flock and could fly for the longest without stopping.

We flew fast, desperately trying to get to my baby Angel and Gazzy. Or at least _I _did. Angel had to go through horrible experiences again because of _me_.

My own stupid self. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

_Not because of you, Max. You deserved a vacation._

_Great, Voice. Don't even try to make me feel better. I should have stayed up for watch! If I had stayed up we would never have gotten captured and we wouldn't be in this mess!_

_The School wasn't supposed to take you. They shouldn't have even used Flyboys._

That was weird. _Then why did they capture us?_

_They got tired of waiting for instructions from the new Director and decided to take things into their own hands. And the Uber-Director was destroyed before the new soldiers were exported to all the branches._

_So they're going to experiment on the Flock without the Director's permission?_

_Exactly._

I considered that as we flew. Who was this new Director?

I thought about last night at the beach in California, about swimming without having to worry about showing our wings after Angel made everyone else go away, about s'mores around the campfire and music and laughing.

And then it was all taken away from us. We'd been gagged and tied up, and separated into our _own_ separate prison cells. Fang and I managed to get out, but not before the others were taken away and transported to other schools.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

**#**

Fang and I coasted over the marshes and dry fields around a lake.

_It's Harney Lake, part of the Harney Basin, Oregon. The Itex building is just a little north of here._

Okay. I looked around, seeing if there were any trees around. Absolutely none.

"Guess we'll just have to crash on the grass," I said.

"Yep. I'll take first watch."

After a dinner of some of the leftovers in our pockets, I curled up in a ball, feeling Fang's eyes on me. I tried to ignore him, and soon was asleep.

I woke up to Fang's hand on my shoulder.

"Max, Flyboys," he said, barely audible.

I looked up. A smudge in the sky was making its way towards us. There were maybe fifty.

"What are we going to do? We can't take that many!" I said, looking up at him, feeling panicky.

"There isn't much we can do. Fly away?"

I nodded, and we both launched ourselves into the dark night. We flapped as fast as we could, straight ahead. But after a few minutes, they were almost upon us. We swerved and twisted, trying to confuse them, but it didn't work that well, and soon we were fighting mid-air.

I figured out how to do this roundhouse kick thing, and that helped a little. Fang was punching and ducking and kicking a little bit away. But there was no way we were going to win.

Suddenly, a steam of silver arrows flew through the air and planted in a bunch of the Flyboys, right through the backs, and they fell to the ground below.

_Whaaat?_ Arrows that could cut through metal? I glanced down, and wow and behold, there was a swarm of _girls_ with _bows _and_ arrows_ shooting _Flyboys_ right out of the _sky. _

One wasn't holding a bow, but was scowling up, arms crossed. Her arms unfolded and reached up, amazingly long fingers outstretched. She seemed to concentrate for a second, then electricity shot out and all the rest the Flyboys froze and crashed. I stared.

Fang and I looked at each other. How the heck did these people get here? And what _was_ that? It was almost like… I hate to say it… magic. I shuddered.

We swooped to the ground, landing about twenty-five yards away from them

Two of the girls led the rest over to us. Who appeared to be the leader had flaming auburn hair, and looked younger than me, maybe thirteen? Actually, almost all of them looked pretty young.

She stared at me a moment, then said, "You're _mortals._"

Huh? "Um, yeah, what else would we be?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm and in control. Well, maybe with just a little sarcastic touch.

She laughed. "What _were_ those things? They weren't like any monsters we've seen before."

"Who are _you?_"

The red-haired girl smiled. _Oh no_, I thought. _Red-haired._ I glanced at Fang out of the corner of my eye. "I am the goddess Artemis. You are mortals." She frowned at Fang. "_You_ are a _boy._"

I laughed. Ri-i-i-ight.

Her glanced turned to me. "Don't believe me?"

"Um, no?" I said sardonically.

The girl with black hair who had done the magic thing stepped forward, eyes narrowed. "Well, who are _you?_"

Now, _she_ looked a little dangerous. Or at least more dangerous than the others.

I put on my bored mask. "I usually don't go around giving people my name."

"I am Thalia, daughter of Zeus, second-in-command of the Hunt. As monster-hunters, we command you."

Now I was just grumpy. How stupid did they think we were? "Yeah, command me. That's worked really well for everyone else."

Artemis interrupted her retort. "You are injured. Stay in our camp one night so we can explain things to each other and you can heal."

I checked Fang and me out. She was right. Fang's nose was bleeding pretty badly, and we both had lots of other various injuries.

Fine. "Well, we're not going anywhere."

**#**

Fang and I had just sat down on the spot and watched as tents almost magically appeared out of their sacks. They set up silvery, silky-tents a little away from us. I saw a lot of the girls giving Fang suspicious looks. Finally the black-haired girl—Thalia—beckoned us into the largest tent.

Fang and I shared a glance. Could we trust them? Was it just another trap? "I guess we've go no choice," I muttered to him.

He nodded, and we followed her in.

Inside, it was surprisingly warm. "Artemis" was sitting on the ground, criss-cross-apple-sauce. "Welcome," she said simply in her pure, sweet voice.

I stared at her. Who did she think she was?

"We have a lot to learn about one another. Please, sit down."

I sighed, like, whatever, and did. Thalia sat down next to the girl.

"So, who are you _really_?" I asked.

"I am Artemis, goddess of the moon, of wild things, leader of the Hunt, patron of maidens like you, protector of children, sister of Apollo, sworn virgin, and one of the twelve Olympians."

"No, I mean, _really_."

She raised one eyebrow. "Don't believe me?"

"Uh, _no?_"

She considered. "I know it is hard to believe, but there in fact really are all of the gods and goddesses from Greek mythology. And all the monsters and heroes and pretty much everything else."

Silence. Did they honestly expect me to fall for that?

Suddenly, Thalia stood up. She was dressed in a combination of Punk and Gothic clothes, mostly black. Her fingers stretched and lighting slashed the night, her glaring all the way. Just like before. Except this time, I got an electric shock.

Jumping up, I said, "Hey! What is that, like, another of Itex's new inventions? Did they send you here to get us? Well, just take us there already! Stop wasting our time!"

"Itex? Are they the ones that gave you…?" She looked at my wings, which I hadn't bothered to fold up.

I breathed out. "Yes."

"I assure you, we have no part in this "Itex". We just heard the fight and came to help. That was Thalia's gift. Because she is the daughter of Zeus."

"So you really are a… goddess?" Fang asked, speaking for the first time.

"Yes."

Fang glanced up at me.

"What about you? What are you? Are there more of you? Why do you have wings?" Thalia asked.

Another sigh escaped me. "It's a long story."

"Just do the best you can."

It was weird. I mean major weird. Because I found myself trusting them. And that's amazingly rare for me, trusting people. "Yeah, there are four others. It started at a place called the School…. They created us by combining human genes and bird genes. Then they did all kinds of experiments on us, but then one of the lab workers stole us and took us away—set us free. Then he disappeared, and I kind of become the leader." I took in another deep breath. Even now, it was hard to talk about. "They've been after us now, and the others were taken to other Schools and Itex branches, so we're trying to get them back. Two of them are around here somewhere."

Artemis watches us closely. "You were the ones we heard about from the battle in Germany."

I laughed. Yes, folks, I actually laughed. "Yes, that was us."

She sat quietly, thinking. "Fang, you may leave. I wish to talk to Max alone."

**So there you go. Wah-lah! PLEASE REVIW!!**


	2. Chapter 2 Thalia

Hey ya'll

**What do you like best?**

**A) Mua ha ha ha h****a! **

**B) Ha ha ha ha ha!**

**C) Bua ha ha ha ha!**

**Fang's POV:  
**

"Fang, you may leave. I wish to talk to Max alone."

I glanced at Max. She nodded, so I got up and walked through the tent flap to the darkness outside, feeling the cold night air make my skin tingle.

This was so weird. I mean, I though _we _were strange, but gods and goddesses? What did Artemis want to talk to Max about without me? And why did Max agree? I could just go back to our spot and watch, or even maybe sleep… _or _I could wait for Max outside the tent.

And I could use my new power to make sure they weren't overheard. By anyone besides me, of course.

Fine! I was going to eavesdrop. Happy?

I sat down on the grass, perfectly still. I am _very _good at that, let me tell you.

I didn't have to listen hard to hear their conversation.

"Max, I have noticed how independent and strong you are, and I was wondering if, after you find the rest of your Flock, if you would join my Hunt?"

I sucked in a breath. Max, leave? She couldn't do that!

"Thanks Artemis, but my place is with my Flock. With my family."

"I thought you might say that. But just hear me out, and you can decide later. I know there's something going on between you and Fang, something you're not comfortable with. In the Hunt, we have all sworn to give up romantic life forever and turn away from the company of men. I can see that you would like that part of it. You would also get to help us save the world from total destruction my monsters—" get too? "—and be immortal. Before you say no, just think about it. We'll help you find this School and save the two of your Flock members there, and after that you can answer me."

Max replied slowly, "I'll think about it. It does sound nice…." It sounded nice? What about us?! She might never get to see us again!

"In the meantime, you can stay with Thalia and I'll get Fang a tent for himself. Just make sure he stays far away from the girls."

I jumped up before I heard Max's answer. I ran quickly and quietly away before hurling myself into the air, trying to make it appear that I had been flying the whole time.

**Max's POV**

So Artemis wanted me to join her Hunt, huh? Well, maybe. But probably not. I followed Thalia out of the tent, her carrying another one under her arm to give Fang.

"So you guys really fly?" she asked.

"Yeah."

I could see her physically relax as we left Artemis. Looking up at the sky for Fang, I saw his figure against the moon. Then he passed over it and disappeared into the darkness once more, but I could make out him landing near us walked over, Thalia waiting by the entrance of what apparently was the tent I would share with her.

"Artemis says they'll help us get them out of the School."

He nodded okay.

"And you can use this tent, as long as you stay far away from the girls, she says."

He just nodded again.

"So, uh, see you in the morning." I turned and fled from his silence, back to Thalia. She held open the tent flap for me, and I crawled inside and sat down on a pile of blankets that would become my bed.

"So you're Zeus's daughter?"

She grimaced. "Yeah."

"Why did you join the Hunt?"

She looked at me. "It's a long story."

"We told you our story."

"Fine. Well, it starts when… do you know much about Greek mythology?"

I shook my head. Nope.

"Well, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades are called the Big Three because they're the most powerful of all the gods. People like me, half god, half mortal, are called half-bloods. We have powers, but we can die. And monsters instinctively come after us and try to eat us. That's why we all have to go to Camp Half-Blood, were we're safe from monsters. But anyway, kids of the Big Three are a lot more powerful than other half-bloods. After World War Two, they Big Three swore not to have any more kids. It was because there was a prophecy made about the next kid of theirs that lived to be sixteen. Two of them broke their promises."

She gave a hollow laugh. "Which resulted in my friend Percy and me. His Dad's Poseidon. But when I was little, I couldn't take living with my Mom anymore. So I ran away, and met two other half-bloods, Annabeth and Luke."

Now bitterness crept into her voice. "A seeker—someone who looks for half-bloods to take them to camp—found us. But right when we were about to cross the border, we were attacked. The monsters were only after me, so I told Grover, the seeker, to take Luke and Annabeth and save them. I was dying, but my dad saw me and turned me into a tree."

Wow. I thought our lives were tough, but at least I wasn't turned into a tree.

"Then, while I was out of it, Percy showed up at Camp. Poseidon claimed him as his son. He, Grover, and Annabeth went on a quest to get my Dad's master lightning bolt, which had been stolen. It turned out that the Titan king, Kronos, was behind it all. And Luke betrayed them. Us."

Her voice turned steely. I wondered if there had been something between them.

"Luke poisoned me. I had been protecting the camp's borders. But I was dying, _again_. He was killing me, even though I had given my life to save him. Then Percy, Annabeth, and Grover managed to get the Golden Fleece on another quest—" I wondered what that was, "—which healed me. But it did the work too well and I became me again."

I sat there, stunned, but she wasn't done yet.

"I went back to normal school with Annabeth. Grover thought he found some more half-bloods, so we met him there with Percy. There was a battle with monsters, and Annabeth was taken along with Artemis, who had helped us fight. Then we chased them across the country until we ended up in California, where they were being forced to hold up the sky."

Hold up the sky?

"There was another huge battle, and I had to fight that _traitor_ Luke. He asked me to join him and Kronos. But he fell from the mountain onto the rocks."

Her face transformed into a mask before my eyes.

"Zoë, the old second-in-command, died. But we got Annabeth and the Hunt got Artemis. Annabeth thinks Luke is still alive, and that he's under Kronos' spell."

Her voice turned to disgust. "We went to Mount Olympus the day before my sixteenth birthday. When I turned sixteen, the prophecy would come true and the fate of the gods would rest in my hands. That was what the prophecy was. But Artemis asked me to join her Hunt, and I did. So now I'll never reach my sixteenth birthday, and the prophecy will be Percy's unless he doesn't live to be sixteen."

Now she was getting mad. "And Annabeth, and Percy and Grover and all them get to save the world while I'm stuck here with Artemis! I mean, we're supposed to be fighting monsters, but we haven't seen any at all, except for the ones that were following you! I want to help save the world!"

She wanted to help save the world, huh? Well, she could trade places with me any day.

Now her breathing slowed and she took deep breaths to calm herself. Her voice grew softly dangerous.

"The worst part of it is that back when Luke, Annabeth and I were on our own, we ran into the Hunt. Artemis asked me to join then, but I wouldn't because then I couldn't have Luke. Zoë told me that Luke would betray me, that I couldn't rust him. I wouldn't believe her, we had a huge argument. But she was right."

Her voice cracked. "She was right all along."

She looked back up at me, her make-up a little smeared.

"Why am I telling you all this?"

Good question. "Because I asked? But you didn't need to tell me your whole life story. I only wanted to know why you joined the hunt."

She laughed. "Yeah, I guess so." Her face became serious again. "But you've seen some pretty horrible stuff too."

I nodded. No duh.

"What kinds of things do they do to you at that place?"

I sucked in a breath. "All kinds of terrible things. You have to sleep in dog-crates, and you never get enough food. They make you run for hours, and if you stop they zap you until you start again. They make you eat drugs to see how you'll react. You have to fight other mutants, and they dissect you and cut you apart. Most don't last long. And most recently, they… they wanted me and Fang to…." I swallowed hard.

"Wow," she said.

"Yep."

"So that's why you want to get your friends back so badly."

"Yes. When Angel came back last time, she could hardly fly. I won't let that happen to her again." My voice became hard and protective.

She nodded. "I can understand that."

I glanced around the tent. How long had we been talking?

"I guess we should get some sleep," she said.

"Okay," I said. I snuggled into the pile of blankets, not even bothering to make a bed, and soon I was fast asleep.

**The next morning…**

The next morning I woke up and I though it was a dream.

Gods and goddesses, yeah yeah, whatever.

But when I opened my eyes, I was in the silver tent and Thalia, in her black punk clothes, was sitting on the other side, watching me.

"Morning," she said.

I jumped up.

"We'll be having breakfast soon," said Thalia. "Let's go get Fang."

I pushed out of the tent and blinked in the early morning light. We walked over to the lone tent set apart from the rest, and I called, "Fang?"

He poked his head out and looked up at me, alert and ready to go.

"Breakfast."

All of the girls shied away from him, but stared boldly at me and Thalia.

"They still aren't used to me," she whispered.

We sat down and Artemis came over to us with steaming pancakes and sausage. How the heck did they carry all of this with them? More magic stuff, I guessed.

Fang and I practically inhaled all of the food. Artemis watched with amusement.

"We eat a lot more than normal people," I explained. "Because flying takes up so much energy."

She produced more, and we shared with Thalia, who had been staring at us eat so fast.

"So, do you have a plan?" she asked after we were finished.

"Well, the School is about a few miles northwest of here. I guess we would go in through the vents, like usual."

She nodded. "Would it be better to go at night?"

"Probably."

"Artemis wants you to talk to her about it," she said, nodding at the goddess across the clearing in the forest of tents. I got up and walked over to her.

**Fang's POV**

So Max might join these people? No, she wouldn't do that. She couldn't do that. Right? I watched her carefully as she strode over the Artemis.

Thalia was saying something.

"So who are we rescuing?"

I blinked at her. "Gazzy and Angel, the two youngest."

"Oh."

It was awkward, sitting with this older girl I didn't know, watching her leader make plans with my leader.

Maybe I should say something. I know, that must sound weird coming from me. But his girl, Thalia, was the only other person I had ever met who had the all-black thing going on. Maybe we could be friends.

_And maybe you were raised with a nice, happy family,_ said my good conscious. _You know you're just trying to make Max jealous._

_I am not!_ said my bad conscious.

Okay, they didn't really say that. But you get the picture.

"So, uh, why did you join the Hunt?" I asked. Wait, I just said that? _What?_

"A prophecy was made either about me or my friend. It would be about whoever turned sixteen first. I was about to have my birthday, but I didn't think—or want—the prophecy to be about me. So I joined, and I haven't gotten a day older since."

Wow. She was immortal?

"Did you join the Flock, or did it just happen?"

"It just sort of happened."

"What about the others?"

"We've all been together since any of us can remember."

"How long is that?"

"Like, how old are we?"

"Yeah."

"Max, Iggy, and I think we're fourteen. Nudge is about eleven, Gazzy is around eight, and Angel is six."

"Wow, Angel's really young."

"Yeah."

"That's why Max is so desperate to get her back?"

I turned my dark gaze on her. "What most people don't get is that although Max is the toughest, fastest, and strongest of all of us, she's also the most caring and she's pretty much the younger kid's mom. Or at least she does everything a mom would do, and more."

Thalia nodded, looking away again.

Max walked back over, looking at us suspiciously. "We're going to invade tonight."

**Hey, peoples. Got any ideas to help me? Not sure what's going to happen next…. **_**PLEASE**_** review.**


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